magic show – Page 30 – MagicShow.Tips

Being Heard Again…

It’s funny that yesterday’s post was about being heard, and then today’s post is also going to be about that. However today’s post is about not being heard in a different context. Last night I did roving magic at an event for a conference, and the music all night was super loud, I really couldn’t be heard from a few feet away.

This problem is common, especially as we get into Holiday Party Season. The DJ was playing the music loud during the first half and playing even louder the second half. The problem was that this isn’t a gig at a wedding, and we weren’t at “da club”, so no one was dancing. In fact, the dance floor was empty and all of the people were on the opposite side of the room, where it was slightly quieter.

So how do you fix this?

There’s really no way to do it. I guess you can talk to the event planner and ask them to have the DJ turn it down, This may or may not have some effect, but odds are they won’t turn it down to an ambient level. It will still be at a “performance level”.

I adjusted my set, it was a few quick visual things and that’s about it. I also seeked out places that were slightly quieter, and there were a couple which was nice.

Let Them Hear You…

In Seattle we’re very lucky to have what is essentially a magic open mic. It’s a once a month thing, and usually has three to four performers and they all do somewhere between five and fifteen minutes. There’s good acts, there’s back acts, new acts and old acts. Last night at the show it was … Continue reading “Let Them Hear You…”

In Seattle we’re very lucky to have what is essentially a magic open mic. It’s a once a month thing, and usually has three to four performers and they all do somewhere between five and fifteen minutes. There’s good acts, there’s back acts, new acts and old acts.

Last night at the show it was fun. My one piece of advice to the majority of the performers there is to learn to project their voices. In the space that the show in is, you really can’t hear them clearly from about halfway back in the audience. Another reason to be loud is that people in the audience may have hearing issues and if you’re barely loud enough for the audience, you won’t be heard by people with poor hearing.

Being heard is soo important, especially if you’re a talking act.

Pet Peeve #731

Something that drives me nuts and I see it all the time in magicians promo and shows is when they say they “Aren’t like other magic shows”. Then they proceed to do the same magic tricks, the only difference is that they aren’t wearing a tailcoat and top hat. They are trying to break a stereotype that changed in the late 1990’s when David Blaine came on the scene.

The amount of magicians that are the stereotype are very few. What really drives me nuts is when they have to keep telling me about it in the show. Really, I can see that you’re not wearing a top hat, I can see that you aren’t making a rabbit appear. Show me with your content and not your words.

I think the space where you tell me things I can’t see or that I will figure out could be used more effectively in a show. Instead tell me how you got into magic…or better yet, tell me how you fought with your first magic teacher over how you dressed or performed. Then I’ll get some insight into you.

Ending of a Show…

The other night I went out to Hales Palladium to check out Billy Kidd’s magic show. I’m always amazed at the lack of magicians that go out and support these things. There were a few magicians there, but nowhere near how many should have been out.

The show was good, and the particular show I was at, I felt like there was an ending that was supposed to happen, but didn’t. I’m not sure what the ending would have been, or if there was something more planned, but it felt like there should have been something.

There are times in my show when something goes wrong and you know it, and you cut the big ending. Or you hit the end of your time and you just need to wrap it up. I’m curious and would like to see the show again to see if there was something that wasn’t done.

Magic Prop Problems…

There are many magic props that are a pain to use. Mostly because of either they wear our or need to be maintained. For example, you may have a prop that has a flimsy hinge or a string that rubs against something. Those are things that you need to keep an eye on. On thing … Continue reading “Magic Prop Problems…”

There are many magic props that are a pain to use. Mostly because of either they wear our or need to be maintained. For example, you may have a prop that has a flimsy hinge or a string that rubs against something. Those are things that you need to keep an eye on.

On thing that I use in my show is a remote control to run my audio. I’ve heard stories of people breaking the belt clip on it. While not a huge deal, it’s a pain the butt to not have one while you are waiting for a replacement to arrive, or trying to figure out how to make a makeshift belt clip.

I was working on another prop and had some leftover silicone, so I made a mold of the remote control’s belt clip and made a couple belt clips.

These fit perfectly onto the remote control. The are going to live in the bottom of my audio case for when I need them, or am working with with someone cool who might need one.

It’s Over!

The final two Halloween shows that I did yesterday went fine, with the usual challenges that I’ve written about the last couple of days. I just don’t get people who insist on sitting and watching a show through a mask. It doesn’t make sense and really I find it disrespectful to the performer, unless it’s a mask that’s really difficult to take off.

Oh, I forgot to mention that of the four of the shows, apparently none of the read the document I send that tells them how to set up my show. The main thing is having people seated in rows, at all of my shows but one they were seated at tables. Another thing is that food isn’t served during the show. At one show they put me in front of where the food was and kept going behind me during the show to get food to serve!!!

As much as I dislike the performing situation at Halloween gigs, I think it is good to take them. It makes you have to work a little bit harder as a performer and not let the conditions get to you.

Halfway Done…

Two Halloween shows are down and two more to go. Yesterday I did a show for kids and one for adults. They both ran into the challenges that I was anticipating and wrote about yesterday (you can read it here). Both shows went well, but I had to work hard at them.

The one thing that I notice this year, and hopefully it’s a trend, was that there were less masks worn, in fact I don’t think I saw a single person wearing a mask. I’ll never use (if I can help it) someone with a mask. This is good as it gives me a bigger pool of people from the audience to use.

The downside was that I notice more full face make up on people as part of their costumes. For the same reasons as someone wearing a mask, I avoid using someone with full face make up.

This year I’m only doing a total of four Halloween shows, so it’s not as big of a pain as when I was younger and would do two weeks of these shows!

Halloween Shows…

The next couple of days I’m performing shows that are at Halloween events. If you read my post from yesterday you know that I don’t do a “Halloween” show, but my normal show. As a performer I’ve notice that Halloween shows reliably have the worst audiences.

Why are the audiences bad?

The answer is simple, they are wearing costumes.

When the audience is in costumes, they act strange. Some play their character, which if that’s the person you bring on stage that makes it hard for the audience to relate to them. Or in the case of kids (or drunk adults) if they are dressed as a wolf, they’ll just howl instead of talking.

Add that to costumes not being as comfortable as normal clothes and masks can limit vision and it makes the show hard to watch for the audience. Then you factor in that costumes can also make you hotter, or colder than normal. An uncomfortable audience isn’t a good audience.

I’ve got four of these shows over the next two days…yippee!

Watch Out For Yourself…

While at the showcase last week, all off the other variety acts has problems with their vocal mics. In the three showcases prior to mine all of the headset mics cut out multiple times. I notice this and didn’t want it to happen to me.

The first thing I did when I went into sound check was scan for a free channel while the band that I was sharing the showcase with was doing their sound check. In theory they are going to have all of their wireless packs on, so my pack will find a channel they aren’t using.

The second thing I did was insist on using my mic pack and not theirs. I didn’t initially do this, I just assumed they’d be using mine. When it came time to tech me, they told me they’d prefer that I use their mic and pack and that all of the other acts used theirs. That told me that the problem was with their system, as that’s the thing all of the other acts had in common, using the sound company’s gear.

When my showcase came around, I used my audio gear and it went great. Nothing cut out, and my vocals went flawlessly! If you notice a problem with other acts audio, try to solve it before it’s your turn!

Listening To My Own Advice…

One thing I love doing is watching other acts and thinking of ways that they can improve. If they are friends of mine and open to it, I’ll share my notes with them. Recently I watched a friends show and they are controlling their music with a smart watch. One of my notes was to get an actual remote, not your watch to run your music.

Using a smart watch to control you music looks bad. It looks like you are constantly looking at the time. Also to use it as a music controller, you need to look at the face of it, you can’t really find the button locations by feel. With a remote like the iJet or Audio Ape you can feel the buttons and use them without looking.

Yesterday I was out doing my flea circus and decided to run it off my apple watch. My reasoning was to simplify a set up and to give it its own dedicated audio set up. This was also the first time I’ve used the apple watch to control music in a live show. It’s clunky as heck when you have to look a the watch and then hit the button.

If you were to use an apple watch, a better system would be to mount it somewhere and push it. Wearing it on your wrist ties up your hands and eyes. It’s easier to glace at your table than it is to glance at your wrist. My advice is to get a remote control unit with buttons you can feel.